Our Work Begins at No: A Conversation with Jerry White, activist, author, diplomat, social entrepreneur, and a leader in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Jerry White is a humanitarian activist, author, diplomat, social entrepreneur, and a leader in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. Jerry’s life changed at twenty when, while hiking in Israel, he stepped on an unmarked landmine and lost his lower right leg. He went on to co-found the Landmine Survivors Network and help lead the campaign that produced the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning landmines. He later helped advance two more landmark international agreements: the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Jerry has since served as a senior U.S. State Department official on conflict and stabilization, as a Senior Ashoka Fellow, and as the first Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia. Today, he chairs MADE IMPACT and teaches what he calls “humane leadership” through BeSeeDo. His books include Getting Up When Life Knocks You Down, Religicide, and his latest, Be See Do: The Art of Humane Leadership. In this episode, we trace Jerry’s extraordinary journey — from surviving a landmine explosion to helping build a Nobel Peace Prize-winning movement, shaping international treaties, serving in government, and developing a practical approach to humane leadership, philanthropy, and systems change.